New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 notched up its biggest weekly gain since May, despite bucking the trend across Asia as investors welcomed some upbeat news on the artificial intelligence front, buoying the likes of Infratil.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was on track for its biggest daily gain since early May with another record on the horizon, as healthcare stocks across the Tasman including CSL and Mesoblast rallied from an earlier selloff over pharmaceutical tariff fears, while miner BHP gained on record iron ore and copper production.
Meanwhile, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare declined after Forsyth Barr analysts took a look back at the medical device maker ahead of its investor day next week, while Auckland International Airport shed some of Thursday’s gains.
And Fletcher Building advanced after introducing quarterly volume reporting and saying it doesn’t expect a meaningful recovery until the June 2027 year.
Friday chill
The NZX50 fell 25.01 points, or 0.2%, to 12,880.40, paring its weekly gain to 1.5%. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 18 rose, and five were unchanged. Turnover across the main board was $161 million.
Stock markets across Asia were broadly stronger, following Wall Street higher, as investors were buoyed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s record profit and plans to accelerate its US expansion as demand for AI products remains robust. Nvidia gained overnight and New Zealand’s Infratil, which counts the CDC data centres business as its biggest investment, rose 1.5% to $11.55.
Australia’s ASX200 climbed 1.5% in late trading with CSL and Mesoblast driving gains among healthcare companies, while BHP rallied on record iron ore and copper production.
That didn’t spill over to F&P Healthcare, which was down 0.6% at $36.54. Forsyth Barr analysts Matt Montgomerie and Benjamin Crozier looked back at the medical device maker’s past 10 years ahead of next week’s investor day, which reaffirmed their confidence in the company meeting earnings expectations but hesitant on its current valuation.
“We do not want this report to be interpreted as us questioning F&P Healthcare’s ability to grow at double digits given its impressive long-term track record and our constructive view on business positioning, but we instead view it as a useful exercise for framing the future,” Montgomerie and Crozier said in a note to clients.
Unjustifiable
Meanwhile, Auckland airport fell 1.5% to $7.66, shedding some of yesterday’s gains when it said it didn’t face a legislative response in the current regulatory review.
Morningstar analyst Angus Hewitt affirmed his fair value estimate of $9.30 on the stock, saying the shares remained undervalued.
“We think the market is unjustifiably pricing either lower returns on regulated expenditure or weakness in unregulated businesses, like retail and car parks,” Hewitt said in a note.
Other blue-chip stocks were also weaker, weighing on the benchmark index. Ebos Group fell 1.1% to $39.80 and Meridian Energy slipped 1% to $5.70, while Spark New Zealand declined 1.8% to $2.53 on a volume of 3.6 million, the heaviest trading for the day.
KMD Brands led the market lower, falling 3.9% to 25 cents.
Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units slipped 0.6% to $6.52 after New Zealand and Canada resolved their dairy access dispute, with the North American nation agreeing to change the way it administers quotas under the comprehensive and progressive trans-Pacific partnership agreement.
More transparency
Fletcher posted the biggest gain on the day, up 3% at $3.06 after introducing a quarterly volume report. Managing director Andrew Reding said volumes have steadily declined across most categories from a peak in 2022, and aren’t expected to meaningfully recovery until the June 2027 year.
The dual-listed major Australian banks were stronger, with Westpac Banking Corp up 0.8% at $37.36 and ANZ Group Holdings increasing 0.5% to $33.63.
The kiwi dollar rose to 59.51 US cents at 5pm from 59.28 cents yesterday and advanced to 91.56 Australian cents from 91.33 cents.
Meanwhile, ASB Bank rejected the very public settlement offer made by lawyers acting for a class suit against the lender and ANZ Bank New Zealand over alleged disclosure failures, calling the bid an “obvious attempt to influence and distract” MPs considering legislation to amend consumer finance law.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from rc.xyz NFT gallery on Unsplash.